This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
There is an ever growing need for cushioning shoe inserts, and methods of use and optimal placement thereof, which provide greater comfort to shoe wearers. The women's fashion shoe industry, for example, often weighs aesthetic factors more heavily than factors regarding comfort when designing shoes. Rather often, the result is women's fashion shoes which are quite uncomfortable and unsuitable for long durations of use. This problem is exacerbated in shoes having either a sharply pointed toe-region, a high heel causing a steep slope, or both because these features, although quite popular, tend to increase the pressure exerted on the toes or feet. Therefore, reducing the level of uncomfortable pressure experienced by shoe wearers is of great importance, and resultantly, several types of shoe inserts with various features attempt to mitigate or eliminate this issue.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,827,707 B2 to Davis, dated Nov. 9, 2010, and fully incorporated by reference herein, discloses shoe inserts designed to provide enhanced comfort to shoe wearers. The Davis patent describes shoe inserts which are to be located within the toe region of a shoe and wherein the insert comprises a proximal toe-engaging face that is positioned to be compressed by at least some of the toes of the wearer. Moreover, the Davis patent discloses that the shoe insert is preferably formed of heat sensitive, viscoelastic, closed-cell polyuthethane memory foam material.
Whereas some shoe inserts rely on compressive forces of the shoe wearer's toes to maintain the shoe insert at an optimal location, e.g. the inner distal portion of a pointed shoe normally unoccupied by the shoe wearer's toes, some other shoe inserts are designed such that maintaining the shoe insert in an optimal location requires various attachment means, such as adhesive strips. For example, U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2009/0260263 A1 filed by Beard, published on Oct. 22, 2009, and fully incorporated by reference herein, discloses a toe cover having a foam member, two fabric members, an adhesive strip and a nonstick cover wherein the adhesive strip secures the toes cover to a shoe. Moreover, a nonstick cover covers the adhesive strip to protect it and to prevent unintended bonding of the toe cover. The nonstick cover is removed and the toe cover is then inserted into a shoe and adhered to a surface of the shoe.
While inserting a shoe insert (or toe cover) into a shoe with an adhesive layer exposed, i.e. with any nonstick cover previously covering the adhesive already removed thereby exposing the adhesive, the user inserting the shoe insert must exercise caution not to inadvertently contact an inner surface of the shoe while the shoe insert is not at an optimal location within the shoe. Otherwise, the adhesive layer may adhere the shoe insert to an inner surface of the shoe at a less than optimal location, therefore requiring the user to remove and reattempt to adhere the shoe insert at an optimal location. Thus, a shoe insert which is capable of being inserted into, adjusted within, and even worn with a user's foot, prior to exposing any adhesive layer is desirable.
The inclusion of steep slopes within shoe designs, as previously mentioned, exacerbates the problem of uncomfortable levels of pressure being exerted on the toes or feet of shoe wearers. As a general matter, the more steeply inclined the shoe the more the plantar region of the shoe wearer's foot tends to slide down the slope thereby pushing into the distal region of the shoe. This typically results in yet another cause of increased pressure experienced by the shoe wearer because the entirety of all forces necessary to support the shoe wearer's body weight are localized in a relatively small area. Thus, shoe inserts designed to apply forces to various predetermined optimal regions of the user's foot, e.g. the metatarsal head region of a shoe wearer's foot, such that the necessary forces can be spread out to a sufficient area to decrease pressures are desirable.
The various attempts at providing greater comfort to shoe wearers, through either shoe inserts or methods of use thereof, suffer from any or all of: being quite difficult to adhere to an actual optimal location within a shoe, e.g. various shoe inserts require any nonstick cover to be removed prior to placement within an optimal location; and failing to adequately disperse necessary support forces over an adequate area such that a shoe wearer does not experience uncomfortable levels of pressure in localized regions of the toes or feet, e.g. allowing for the slope of a shoe to cause the user's foot to slide down and forward into a front region of a shoe resulting in high exerted pressures.
Accordingly, this application discloses shoe inserts which are configured such that a user may expose one or more adhesive layers while the cushioning shoe insert is maintained at an optimal location within a shoe, thereby securing the cushioning shoe inserts precisely at the optimal location. Moreover, this application discloses shoe inserts which are designed to distribute necessary support forces, e.g. through a foot chock, thereby mitigating or eliminating uncomfortable levels of localized pressure.